Strawberry Fields Forever
by Holly Marie Fowl
Summary: Perhaps someone will be seriously injured. Perhaps a miracle will happen. And maybe someone will get a little faith in humanity. Oneshot. Not what you expect, I hope.


**Salvete.** This is really kind of…odd. Not sure where the idea came from. It takes place in the Leviathan world. I just decided to add our fairy friends. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Leviathan or Artemis Fowl, obviously. And the idea for the title is from the Beatles.

**Strawberry Fields Forever**

**The Western Front, 1915**

They were standing in a field of dead bodies, Alek realized. Had _anyone _survived the battle? Dylan, who was standing by his side, looked ready to cry. Alek took his hand, and the boy squeezed it, looking the other way.

There was the sound of a gunshot, and Dylan was suddenly in front of him.

"No! Dylan!"

The boy stumbled back into his arms, and, still holding him, Alek fell to his knees.

"Why did you-? Why would you-?" he found himself trying to ask, eyes brimming with tears. They were miles away from help…There was no way. Alek's free hand was an ugly dark red already.

"A-Alek," Dylan said. His voice was higher. "You're the best chance we're got to ending this barking war."

"I can't do it without you," Alek replied, barely able to see. He couldn't lose Dylan…Not like his parents. Not again.

Dylan gasped. "Alek…I need to tell you…Please don't be mad."

"What?" It was probably the secret…the one Dylan had tried to tell him time after time.

"My name isn't…Dylan. It's Deryn. I should have told you…"

Mister Sharp.

_Mister_ Sharp.

This revelation was sped up, as he realized he—_she_—was dying.

"Alek," she said, between sharp gasps. She brought her hand up to his face, and he realized she was pulling him forward. He yielded as she kissed him. His emotions were in complete turmoil, but he wondered if the normal happy feeling he'd gotten from her before was more than friendship. And when he acknowledged that possibility, pulling her closer, everything else fell into place. She pulled back. "I love you."

"I love you too," he whispered, forehead pressed to her. He wasn't sure if he meant it romantically; he couldn't be sure in maybe forty-five seconds of knowing she was a girl. He'd rather say it now than regret not saying it later.

She let out a little shaky laugh. "You don't have to say that if you don't mean it."

God's wounds, it was creepy how she read his mind sometimes.

She kissed him again, lightly, then gasped.

"Alek?"

"Yes?"

"End this barking war," she said, with every ounce of energy in her body.

She went limp in his arms, but he buried his face in her neck, letting the tears fall.

1 3 8

Coral Short was in a terrible mood. She'd ended up at a human battlefield for Frond's sake! She was supposed to be in the Pacific Ocean, back at the submarine! She hovered impatiently over it all, waiting for the LEP's tech consultant to get proper directions.

Coral let her mind wander over the horrors of humanity. All this brilliant technology, and the only thing they could do with it was kill each other. It was such a shame.

She heard the sound of a human gun and saw one young soldier jump in front of another. Had they been there a few minutes ago? She hadn't noticed them. Odd. They would have been the only things standing, or indeed moving, on the whole field.

She nudged her control stick a little, just so she could see them clearly. The boy with brown hair was talking, stammering.

They were Clankers. She sighed. She could tell by the accent. Clankers and their machines—all well and dandy, but an environmental wreck!

But wait…No. The other boy had a Scottish accent!

In the shock, she missed the next few words, but heard his…or her, name. Deryn.

So, she was disguising herself as a boy to be in the military. Clever.

You had to give the girl credit. Fairies weren't much ahead of humans when it came to women's rights, as much as she hated to admit it.

That still didn't answer the question. How would a Clanker boy and a Darwinist girl end up on a battlefield together? They were obviously good friends, otherwise she wouldn't have saved his life.

The exchange continued, completely blowing her mind. These humans weren't belligerent in the least.

They wanted the war to end…

…And they were in love.

Funny how children did that—fell in love when they weren't supposed to. Human children were especially adept at it. They didn't seem to have the same need to fight that the adults had. Wasn't that worth saving? And the boy, whoever he was, could end the war. _Frond,_ he looked familiar. He was so young; how could he possibly be able to end a war?

Of course, fairies weren't supposed to get involved with human affairs.

D'Arvit, she thought.

She heard the tech consultant in her ear, as if he could read her thoughts.

"Don't even think about it, Short," he snapped.

But she switched off communications and crept forward. The boy was sobbing over the girl. She took off her helmet and unshielded, fanning her wings out behind her. If she was lucky, this Clanker was religious. If not, she could always do a block mindwipe on them both.

The boy didn't see her, until she called his name softly—Aleksander. Very aristocratic. Was that it? Was he royalty?

Alek jumped.

"Stand back," she said, crouching to heal the nearly dead girl on the ground. The boy watched her silently, with a shocked look on his face.

When the blue sparks faded, she looked up. The boy had green eyes…just like her husband.

"Thank you," he whispered. "I owe you…"

"You must tell no one you saw me," she whispered. "No one."

He nodded, cradling the girl in his arms again.

"They wouldn't believe me. What's your name? Are you an angel of some sort?"

"Yes. My name is Coral."

"I can't thank you enough."

Coral laughed, smiling. "I know what it's like to be in love, boy. She said you can end this war then?"

"I'm the heir to an empire," he whispered. Bingo!

"I thought you looked familiar. Good luck then."

"Thank you."

"Alek?"

He looked up from his stirring girl.

"Don't make me regret my choice. Things won't end well for you if I do."

He nodded. "I won't."

And she flew off to be punished by her commander, who was no doubt furious. But even he should admit that it was rare to find two humans like that.

**End Notes:** Like mother, like daughter, huh?

Sorry Holly wasn't in it. Do the math. She wasn't even born yet in 1916! (In TLC it says she was in her eighties. Assuming it takes place in 2000-2010, she had to have been born in 1920-1930. I already pushed back the date of this story. If I pushed it back any further, Alek would look even more stupid.)

And no, I don't think the tech consultant was Foaly. He seems pretty young in the _Artemis Fowl _books.

Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed the story. Let me know what you think.

Love and Skittles,

Holly Marie Fowl


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